Course Description

Students establish an actionable plan for the launch of their own business.  In the early weeks of this class, students will conduct research on the company's product and business model that will likely provide value to a customer segment that does not currently have access to the business' solution. The objective is for students to assess one or more emerging information technologies that will be the focus of their early stage startup research and assignments. This course will provide students the opportunity to evaluate an early-stage business idea and turn it into a startup. The course will provide a framework for developing entrepreneurial solutions that can be applied throughout your career and will provide you a methodology for thinking like an entrepreneur.

Credit(s)

3.0

Professor of Record

Bruce Kingma

Audience

The intended audience for this course is university students who are serious about launching a company and understand the rigor, sacrifice, and force of will required to make it happen. Entrepreneurship is a mindset, not a destination or just a title.

Learning Objectives

After taking this course, students will be able to:

  • Identify your entrepreneurial mission, vision, and have a clear understanding about your motivation for doing this. 

  • Conduct research on your relevant industry and identify your unique competitive advantage.  

  • Conduct research on your relevant market based on your business concept, including design and testing of your value hypothesis. 

  • Develop a viable economic model for your business, or multiple, compatible viable models. 

  • Create an actionable project schedule for building a prototype (product companies) or initial service offering (service companies). 

  • Analyze the various capital sources available to entrepreneurial start-ups and develop a plan for raising sufficient capital relevant for your unique business concept. 

  • Participate in campus wide business plan and idea competitions as an initial capital raising tactic.


Course Syllabus

IDS 302/IST 684 Fall 2021 Syllabus- Ruscitto

Other iSchool Courses